Walking doll



G. GIROUD Dec. 1, 1970 WALKING DOLL Filed Feb. 23. 1968 United States Patent 3,543,435 WALKING DOLL Germain Giroud, Moingt-par-Montbrison,

Loire, France Filed Feb. 23, 1968, Ser. No. 707,771 Claims priority, application France, Mar. 9, 1967, 48,386; Aug. 29, 1967, 49,071 Int. Cl. A63h 33/26 U.S. Cl. 46-247 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A walking doll of the kind in which the alternate pivoting of the legs is effected by imparting to the body a swinging motion which causes alternate shifting of the center of gravity of the doll relative to the median vertical axis of the legs. It has a body formed as an upper part to which is pivoted a lower part. The legs are pivoted on the lower part and are coupled by a hinged cross-bar so that a swing by one leg causes an opposite swing of the other. A flexible metallic rod is fixed to a boss on the lower part and looped at its other end to cooperate with a crank pin rotated by a battery-driven motor through a worm and cog. Weights in the feet facilitate the swings of the legs.

The present invention relates to improvements in walking dolls and more particularly to devices by which the alternate pivoting of the legs is obtained by imparting to the body of the doll a swinging movement which ensures the periodic displacement of the center of gravity of the toy with respect to the median vertical axis of the egs.

In one type of walking dolls of this kind the legs are hinged with a considerable lateral play on the lower part of the body of the figurine so that the latter can swing laterally with respect to the said legs. To this end the legs carry a motor mechanism which is coupled to the body of thedoll by an eccentric, the rotation of which causes the periodic swinging of the body. The two legs are moreover connected by a bar, displaced laterally with respect to the axis of articulation of the legs, the whole being arranged so that displacement of the center of gravity of the doll causes, by means of the cross-bar the alternated pivoting of the two legs around their axis of articulation.

The drawbacks possessed by walking dolls of this first type reside in the complexity of their mechanism, which complexity thereby increases the cost; moreover the mounting of the whole of the mechanism in the lower part of the body and its attachment to the hinged legs are particularly delicate. Besides and especially, the large lateral play introduced into the articulation of the legs on the lower part of the body spoils the aesthetic character of the toy, which is finally presented more in the form of a dislocated puppet than that of the usual doll. It will be noted finally that the whole is very noisy and that it can only be used for a particular size of doll; in practice therefore it is necessary to provide as many types of mechanisms as of different sizes of the toys.

In a second type of Walking doll, the legs are articulated without excessive play on the lower part of the body of the figurine, but it is this lower part which is connected pivotally to the upper part, which is propelled for lateral oscillating movement by a suitable actuating mechanism. The pivoting axle and this mechanism are further arranged in a manner to confer on the upper part of the body a twisting movement which is combined with the above-mentioned oscillation to cause the alternate displacement of the legs. It is important to emphasize the complication of the whole mechanism and of the members which are associated with it, the assembly of which requires perfectly strict adjustment. It is appreciated furthermore that Whatever the precision effected, the alternate angular displacement of the legs, obtained by a simple effect of gravity, is not regular, so that the toy does not advance in a straight line. It will be noted finally that here again the toy is inelegant in appearance and behaves like a dislocated puppet due to the fact that the legs are mounted loosely on the lower part of the body.

It is an object of the present invention to remedy the drawbacks of the known mechanisms and to permit the production of a walking doll of the above-mentioned kind which is capable of conforming particularly well to these various desiderata of the art.

The walking doll according to the invention is characterised in that the legs are hinged with reduced play on the lower part of the body, itself connected pivotally to the upper part of the body and actuated with a lateral swinging motion by means of a suitable actuating mechanism, the legs being coupled to one another by a hinged cross-bar in order that any angular displacement of one of the legs causes the corresponding displacement of the other leg.

It will be understood that there is obtained in this way a particularly simple and economical toy, in which the legs are positively controlled by one another.

In a preferred embodiment, the upper part of the body comprises stops which cooperate with the free edge of the lower part, with a view to limiting thus the amplitude of the lateral swinging motion. This arrangement facilitates moreover the operation of the whole as a result of the jog caused at the end of each swing on the impact of the stops against the aforesaid edge. The connection between the two parts of the body is operated by means of a relatively flexible metallic rod of which one of the ends is fixed to the lower part while the opposite end is shaped in a manner to cooperate with the eccentric crank pin of the actuating mechanism. It is appreciated that this rod introduces a certain flexibility in the periodic swinging motion, at the same time avoiding any damage to the mechanism in the case where the child would tend to make one part pivot with respect to the other of the two parts of the body when the motor is stopped.

In order that the invention may be better understood, several embodiments are described below purely by way of illustrative examples with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a vertical axial section of one embodiment of a walking doll according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial section along the line IIII of FIG.

' 1; and

FIG. 3 is a partial vertical section of another embodi ment.

Referring to the drawing, the body of the doll shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, which body is intended to support the head 1, the hinged arms 2 and the pivoting legs 3, is constituted by an assembly of two separate parts, namely an upper part or torso 4, and a lower part or bowl 5.

These two parts are assembled pivotally to one another by means of screws 7 associated with tubular spacers or washers 8. The tilting of the tor-so 4 with respect to the bowl is limited by stops 4a arranged on the inside Wall of the said torso 4 so as to cooperate with the free upper edge of the bowl 5, as shown in FIG. 2. These stops or the edge may be padded with resilient material.

The actuating means of the doll is a mechanism housed inside the torso 4. This mechanism comprises an electric motor 9 with a vertical shaft, supplied by a battery 10 held on the inside of a housing 11 closed by a hinged flap 11a; this motor 9 is borne by a base plate 12 fixed against the rear wall of the torso 4. Its shaft 9a drives, through a worm gear 13 and a cog wheel 14, a disc on which is fixed in eccentric manner a pin 15a forming a crank pin; the horizontal shaft on which are fixed the cog wheel 14 and the disc 15 is borne by a small oblique frame 12a rigidly fixed to the base plate 12. On the crank pin 15a is engaged the upper end in the form of a loop of a metallic rod 16 of which the base is embedded on the inside of a vertical boss 5a of the bowl 5. It is understood that when the motor 9 is energized, the eccentric rotation of the crank pin 15a imparts to the torso 4 of the figurine a periodic swinging motion around the screws or axles 7 which movement displaces the center of gravity of the toy laterally from side to side of the median vertical axis of the legs 3 which rest on the ground by the usual feet 3'.

The bottom of the bowl 5 comprises, in front of the above-indicated vertical boss 5a, a second boss 5b forming a support for a fixed rod 17. On the free upper end of this rod is pivotally engaged the central part of a horizontal cross-bar 18 which rests on the top of the boss 5b. The ends of this cross-bar 18 are introduced on the inside of the fork provided at the end of each of the two arms 19 oriented obliquely upwardly, from front to rear. Each arm 19 is fixed at 20 to the inner face of the upper part of the corresponding leg 3; the two legs 3 are pivotally mounted on a horizontal axle 21 borne by the bowl 5 and through metallic bushes 22 rigidly fixed to the one and the other of the said legs. This axle 21 and bushes 22 constitute hinge means pivoting the legs 3 from the lower torso part 5 with limited play.

The general operation of the assembly will now be described. The axle 21 being offset towards the front, the weight of the body of the doll tends to impart to the arms 19 a tilting couple towards the rear; while the two feet 3 rest on the ground, there would be no movement of the legs 3 around the axle 21. It is appreciated however that the lateral swinging motion applied by the actuating mechanism to the torso 4 displaces the center of gravity on each side of the median axis of the legs 3, so that the bowl 5 tends to be alternately shifted from one side and from the other about axis 7 alternately lifting each side of the bowl 5. Lifting of one side of bowl 5 causes one of the legs 3 to be lifted and this of course lifts the corresponding foot 3'. The weight of the lifted leg and the location of axle 21 causes the lifted leg to move forwardly. The arm 19 on the forward moving leg moves rearwardly carrying the corresponding end of cross bar 18 rearwardly. Since cross bar 18 is pivoted about vertical rod 17 its other end will move forwardly. The other side of cross bar 18 is engaged in the slot of member 19 tending to force this member 19 forwardly and this leg rearwardly when the actuating mechanism shifts bowl 5 to the other side. This continues so that the doll takes a step each time the bowl is shifted. When one foot 3' is on the ground and one leg 3 is stationary, the body would tend to pivot about axle 21 were it not for the cross bar 18 pivoted on rod 17 and engaged in arms 19. It is appreciated that the jolt imparted by the impact of the stops 4a on the free edge of the bowl 5 improves the effect of the periodic lateral rocking. In order to facilitate the pivoting of the legs 3, there is ad- 4 vantageously comprised in the feet 3' a weight 23 which makes the rear part or the heel of each of the said feet heavier.

Tests have shown that the doll according to the invention simulates particularly well the hesitating gait of a child. The toy is perfectly stable depending on suitable orientation of the arms 2 of the figurine. It will be noted that the fitting together of the doll is particularly simple since it only requires in fact the provision, in the shaping mould of two vertical metallic rods; the same actuating mechanism may be housed in the body of the toy, whatever the size of the doll. The functioning is perfectly silent as a result of the worm gear system 13-14, and of the elastic stop of the arms 19 against the edges of the elongated openings arranged in the bowl 5 for the angular displacement of the said arms, which edges are besides capable of being provided with padding of flexible material.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment in which the cross-bar, designated 118, is arranged behind the axis of articulation 21 of the legs 3, as in the embodiment described above, but substantially in the same horizontal plane. This crossbar 118 is borne at its centre by a foot 5 rigidly attached to the bottom of the bowl 5, which foot forms a pivot; in such case the inner wall of the legs 3 is cut out with a vertical opening 3 which enables the angular rocking of the bar. The operation is otherwise identical with that which has been described above.

I claim:

1. A walking doll of the type in which the alternate pivoting of the legs is effected by imparting to the body of the doll a swinging motion which ensures the alternate displacement of the center of gravity of the doll with respect to the median vertical axis of the legs, wherein the body comprises a lower part connected pivotally to an upper part, hinge means with reduced play pivoting the legs on said lower part, the hinge means located forwardly of a vertical axis of the body, actuating means secured to said upper part and lower part for animating said lower part with a lateral swinging motion relative to said upper part, and a vertically pivoted horizontal cross-bar coupling the legs to one another, so that angular displacement of one leg causes corresponding opposite displacement of the other leg.

2. A walking doll acording to claim 1, wherein one of said parts of the body is provided with inner stops suitable to buffer at the end of each swinging movement a free facing edge of the opposite part.

3. A walking doll according to claim 1, wherein a relatively flexible metallic rod is rigidly fixed at one end to one said body part, and said actuating means comprises an eccentric with which the other end of said rod cooperates.

4. A walking doll according to claim 3, wherein a boss is arranged in said one body part, said one end of the rod being fixed in said boss, the other end of the rod comprising a loop, said eccentric comprising a crank pin captive in said loop.

5. A walking doll according to claim 4, wherein said actuating means comprises a battery, an electric motor energisable by said battery, a worm and cog mechanism rotatable by said motor and coupled to said crank pin.

6. A walking doll according to claim 1, wherein each leg of the doll includes at least one weight suitable in a foot to load the foot concerned and to facilitate the pivoting of the corresponding leg from front to back.

7. A walking doll according to claim 1, wherein said cross-bar is arranged in substantially the same horizontal plane as the hinge means of the legs and the legs are provided with generally vertical slots.

8. A walking doll according to claim 1, wherein the cross-bar is borne at its center by a support rigidly fixed to the lower part of the body forming a pivot.

5 6 9. A walking doll according to claim 8, wherein an 3,421,258 1/1969 Gardel et al. 46-247 inner wall of the leg is provided with a vertical opening 3,425,154 2/1969 Lindsay et a1. 46150 to accommodate pivotal movement of the cross-bar.

LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner References Cited 5 R. F. CUTTING, Assistant Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,996,838 8/1961 Beebe 46 149 3,243,916 4/1966 Ryan 46-247 45-150 

